<p>Japan scrambled fighter jets on Saturday to head off a Chinese state-owned plane that flew near islands at the centre of a dispute between Tokyo and Beijing, a Japanese Defense Ministry spokesman said.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The Japanese jets were mobilised after a Chinese maritime aircraft ventured some 120 kilometres north of the Senkaku islands, which China calls the Diaoyus, around <br />12 noon (0830 IST), the spokesman said.<br /><br />The Chinese Y-12 twin-turboprop later left the zone without entering Japanese airspace over the islands, he added.<br /><br />It was the first time Japanese fighter jets had been scrambled this year to counter Chinese aircraft approaching the islands, the spokesman said.<br /><br />Japan dispatched fighter jets last month after a Chinese state-owned plane breached airspace over the islands. The Chinese government ships have moved in and out of waters there for the past few months.<br /><br />The confrontations have become commonplace since Japan nationalised the East China Sea islands in September, a move it insisted amounted to nothing more than a change of ownership of what was already Japanese territory.</p>
<p>Japan scrambled fighter jets on Saturday to head off a Chinese state-owned plane that flew near islands at the centre of a dispute between Tokyo and Beijing, a Japanese Defense Ministry spokesman said.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The Japanese jets were mobilised after a Chinese maritime aircraft ventured some 120 kilometres north of the Senkaku islands, which China calls the Diaoyus, around <br />12 noon (0830 IST), the spokesman said.<br /><br />The Chinese Y-12 twin-turboprop later left the zone without entering Japanese airspace over the islands, he added.<br /><br />It was the first time Japanese fighter jets had been scrambled this year to counter Chinese aircraft approaching the islands, the spokesman said.<br /><br />Japan dispatched fighter jets last month after a Chinese state-owned plane breached airspace over the islands. The Chinese government ships have moved in and out of waters there for the past few months.<br /><br />The confrontations have become commonplace since Japan nationalised the East China Sea islands in September, a move it insisted amounted to nothing more than a change of ownership of what was already Japanese territory.</p>